Something that's really stood out as I've been reading about her catalog is just how much of a relationship actually exists between her screen and music work. It's kinda wild, actually, that she had such a limited filmography and yet it bore so much relevance to her music—particularly her late career releases.

To start with, she did whole ass companion albums consisting mostly of original material penned by herself for 9 to 5, Rhinestone, and Straight Talk.

She wrote a soundtrack for a tv film called Wild Texas Wind (that she also cowrote?!), but that soundtrack was never released.

She wrote six original songs for tv film Smoky Mountain Christmas, including "Wrapped Up in You" and "A Smoky Mountain Christmas" that were eventually released on Holly Dolly Christmas more than thirty years later. ("I'd Like to Spend Christmas with Santa," written by her uncle, also appears in the film and was added to the Christmas album). As far as I know, the other 4 Dolly compositions from this film are yet to be released.

"What a Heartache" from Rhinestone was rerecorded on Eagle When She Flies and Little Sparrow. She was a big believer in this song and felt it was destined to be a hit for someone someday.

"Stay Out of My Bedroom" from Rhinestone was rerecorded for Rockstar.

"God Won't Get You" from Rhinestone was reworked into "Can't Be That Wrong" on Pure & Simple.

"Eagle When She Flies" was originally written to be a theme song for Steel Magnolias.

"Unlikely Angel" on Blue Smoke was originally written as the theme song for her Christmas tv film of the same name but was never officially released at the time despite being included in the film.

"Could I Have Your Autograph" and "Savin It All For You," the only two songs on Rainbow to be written and composed by Dolly, were promoted on her flop variety series at the time.

She came up with "Halos & Horns" while pitching a tv pilot that never got picked up.

"If Only" from Halos & Horns was originally intended for a canned biopic of Mae West that Dolly was working on at the time. (Per BKR's video on Dolly, critic Ebert compared Dolly to Mae West more than once and it seemed Dolly was intended to play her?).

"Backwoods Barbie" was originally written for the stage adaptation of 9 to 5. Four other songs she wrote for the musical were included on Better Day.

"Blue Valley Songbird" from Hungry Again was adapted into a Lifetime TV film of the same title.

While filming Blue Valley Songbird, Dolly wrote "The Grass is Blue" during a 30 minute break on set.

"A Gamble Either Way" and "A Cowboy's Ways," both on Burlap & Satin, were leftover original compositions intended for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

"Hollywood Potters" on Heartbreak Express was inspired by and a tribute to the extras and failed actors she met while filming 9 to 5.

"From Here to the Moon and Back" was written for Joyful Noise and then rerecorded as a duet with Willie Nelson for Blue Smoke.

"I Will Always Love You" was rerecorded for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" was rerecorded for Straight Talk. "Try" was rerecorded for Christmas on the Square. Six catalog songs were rerecorded for the Dumplin' soundtrack, for which she also contributed six original songs.

"Coat of Many Colors" was adapted into a tv film. "Jolene," "Two Doors Down," "If I Had Wings," "Cracker Jack," "Down From Dover," "Sugar Hill," "JJ Sneed," and "These Old Bones" were adapted into episodes of a Netflix anthology series.

"I Will Always Love You" was probably prominently featured in some other movie at some point.

I'm sure there's probably more.

Had my biggest Dolly streaming day ever today… breaking a record set earlier this week… which broke a record set the day before… which broke a record set twice (in a tie) the week before… Handling things well, obviously.

Before I update y'all on my listening journey (which will hopefully be fairly soon!), I discovered what could end up in my top 10 Dolly songs.

Edited September 11Sep 11 by gagacasanova

On 9/7/2026 at 4:11 PM, gagacasanova said:

Ooh, I found the base! Huzzah! I've always been a fan of this legend, but I've planned on going through the queen's gigantic discography instead of just knowing her general hits. I started just mere weeks before her passing and I'm so far finished with her '60s and '70s records (I only plan on going through her solo albums).

The ones I've already stanned: Drives Me Crazy, Better Get to Livin', Faith, If You Hadn't Been There, Baby I'm Burnin', World On Fire, Here You Come Again, I Will Always Love You, 9 to 5 and Jolene.

The essential highlights I've found along the way: Great Balls of Fire, Sweet Summer Lovin', Star of the Show, I Wanna Fall in Love, Sure Thing, Two Doors Down, (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher & Higher, Light of a Clear Blue Morning (quite literally a top 5 highlight in her repertoire), Boulder to Birmingham, All I Can Do, We Used to, The Bargain Store, Love Is Like a Butterfly, Cracker Jack, My Tennessee Mountain Home, Joshua, Golden Streets of Glory, My Blue Tears, Coat of Many Colors, In the Ghetto, He's A Go Getter (the wordplay on this chef's kiss), In the Good Old Days When Times Were Bad, Something Fishy, Dumb Blonde, God's Coloring Book, Help, Most of All Why, Touch Your Woman and the absolute heartwrenchers that are Letter to Heaven and Me & Little Andy.

Although it seems like I've barely crossed half of the finish-line, I've already saved over 200+ songs. Currently my favorite record is New Harvest...First Gathering... what a gem!

Well, friends, I am back to update as I've wrapped up Dolly's albums from the 80s and A couple notes if you wish to read...

- after listening to Dolly Dolly Dolly, I do find it to be one of her weakest projects. I only liked about 3 songs from the album. The worst one (currently) is Rainbow -- IDK WTH was going on with that one.
- The 9 to 5 album is a very strong record. This could end up being a contender for my top 5 of her records. This also goes for White Limozeen.
- for an all covers album, The Great Pretender has bops after bops. Most cover albums usually fall fairly flat for me, but this is chef's kiss

The essential highlights: The House of the Rising Sun, Sing for the Common Man, Working Girl, Starting Over Again, Heartbreak Express, As Much As Always, Do I Ever Cross Your Mind, Hollywood Potters, Jealous Heart, Potential New Boyfriend, Save the Last Dance for Me, I Walk the Line, Downtown, She Don't Love You (Like I Love You), Think About Love, We Got Too Much, It's Such a Heartache, I Hope You're Never Happy, Time for Me to Fly, Why'd You Come In Here Lookin' Like That, White Limozeen, Wait 'Til I Get You Home, Take Me Back to the Country, The Moon The Stars and Me, He's Alive

Now onto the '90s!

She became my 6th artist to pass 10,000 plays.

This is absolutely GORGEOUS.

On 9/7/2026 at 4:11 PM, gagacasanova said:

Ooh, I found the base! Huzzah! I've always been a fan of this legend, but I've planned on going through the queen's gigantic discography instead of just knowing her general hits. I started just mere weeks before her passing and I'm so far finished with her '60s and '70s records (I only plan on going through her solo albums).

The ones I've already stanned: Drives Me Crazy, Better Get to Livin', Faith, If You Hadn't Been There, Baby I'm Burnin', World On Fire, Here You Come Again, I Will Always Love You, 9 to 5 and Jolene.

The essential highlights I've found along the way: Great Balls of Fire, Sweet Summer Lovin', Star of the Show, I Wanna Fall in Love, Sure Thing, Two Doors Down, (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher & Higher, Light of a Clear Blue Morning (quite literally a top 5 highlight in her repertoire), Boulder to Birmingham, All I Can Do, We Used to, The Bargain Store, Love Is Like a Butterfly, Cracker Jack, My Tennessee Mountain Home, Joshua, Golden Streets of Glory, My Blue Tears, Coat of Many Colors, In the Ghetto, He's A Go Getter (the wordplay on this chef's kiss), In the Good Old Days When Times Were Bad, Something Fishy, Dumb Blonde, God's Coloring Book, Help, Most of All Why, Touch Your Woman and the absolute heartwrenchers that are Letter to Heaven and Me & Little Andy.

Although it seems like I've barely crossed half of the finish-line, I've already saved over 200+ songs. Currently my favorite record is New Harvest...First Gathering... what a gem!

On 9/12/2026 at 6:24 PM, gagacasanova said:

Well, friends, I am back to update as I've wrapped up Dolly's albums from the 80s and A couple notes if you wish to read...

- after listening to Dolly Dolly Dolly, I do find it to be one of her weakest projects. I only liked about 3 songs from the album. The worst one (currently) is Rainbow -- IDK WTH was going on with that one.
- The 9 to 5 album is a very strong record. This could end up being a contender for my top 5 of her records. This also goes for White Limozeen.
- for an all covers album, The Great Pretender has bops after bops. Most cover albums usually fall fairly flat for me, but this is chef's kiss

The essential highlights: The House of the Rising Sun, Sing for the Common Man, Working Girl, Starting Over Again, Heartbreak Express, As Much As Always, Do I Ever Cross Your Mind, Hollywood Potters, Jealous Heart, Potential New Boyfriend, Save the Last Dance for Me, I Walk the Line, Downtown, She Don't Love You (Like I Love You), Think About Love, We Got Too Much, It's Such a Heartache, I Hope You're Never Happy, Time for Me to Fly, Why'd You Come In Here Lookin' Like That, White Limozeen, Wait 'Til I Get You Home, Take Me Back to the Country, The Moon The Stars and Me, He's Alive

Now onto the '90s!

Hey, hey, hey friends!

I'm back and ready to report my findings after combing through Dolly's '90s albums

- Eagle When She Flies is a fairly solid record. The only track I didn't care for is "Family", for personal reasons.
- Despite liking the album (excluding the re-records), I could have done without Something Special. I could have also done without the Treasures album but After the Goldrush is absolutely gorgeous.
- Hungry Again deserved GRAMMYS. She absolutely snapped with The Salt In My Tears.
- As for my favorite album, I fear New Harvest...First Gathering has been dethroned by a certain Grammy winning album 👀
- I've been largely avoiding the re-recordings to reduce time on this journey, but I'm going to give the re-recordings on the bluegrass records a try since they seem to bring her the most acclaim.
- As a side note, I retroactively added I Don't Want to Throw Rice & Applejack to my essentials list.

The essential highlights: If You Need Me, Rockin' Years, Country Road, Silver and Gold, Romeo, More Where That Came From, Put a Little Love in Your Heart, High and Mighty, Just When I Needed You Most, Something's Burning, After the Goldrush, The Salt In My Tears, Blue Valley Songbird, When Jesus Comes Calling for Me, The Camel's Heart, Honky Tonk Songs, Shine On, Travelin' Prayer, Cash on the Barrelhead, A Few Old Memories, I'm Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open, Steady as the Rain, I Still Miss Someone, Endless Stream of Tears, Silver Dagger, Train Train, I Wonder Where You Are Tonight, Will He Be Waiting for Me, The Grass Is Blue

Onto the oughts!